Gallery Hop preview: Five exhibitions to check out this weekend

Wednesday

Apr 1, 2015 at 12:01 AMApr 2, 2015 at 3:36 PM

As temperatures heat up and the sun makes a more consistent appearance, there's no excuse not to venture to the Short North this Saturday for the first Gallery Hop of spring. Here are five exhibitions worth checking out while you're there.

As temperatures heat up and the sun makes a more consistent appearance, there’s no excuse not to venture to the Short North this Saturday for the first Gallery Hop of spring. Here are five exhibitions worth checking out while you’re there.

“New Work” by Craig Carlisle

Painter Craig Carlisle, a 1988 graduate of Columbus College of Art and Design, has shown his work regularly at the Sharon Weiss Gallery over the past decade. He returns this month with his 19th exhibition there, featuring more of his beloved signature “Big Head” paintings — a concept he began developing in the early 1990s.

Carlisle’s work is largely influenced by the concept of meditation and contemplation, and he aims to capture still moments. The main themes of this exhibit will be “Big Heads,” gardens and floral work, though he likes to leave room for viewers to experience their own interpretation and emotional response to the artwork. “I love how my work always invokes different reactions, many times contrary to my initial expectations,” Carlisle said via email.

If you find the crowded, noisy streets of this springtime Gallery Hop over-stimulating, check out Carlisle’s most recent creations, which, his bio says, “evoke emotions reminiscent of childhood innocence … and elicit an immediacy of reaction which is both mesmerizing and unexplainable.”

Sharon Weiss Gallery

Through April 29

Opening reception: 6-8 p.m. Friday, April 3

20 E. Lincoln St., Short North

sharonweissgallery.com

Maria K. DiFranco: “Noiseless Growth”

Maria K. DiFranco, an MFA teaching associate at The Ohio State University (she earned her BFA at the Rhode Island School of Design), is making her mark in the Short North emerging artists’ scene. In 2014, her work was featured in the Short North Arts District's 2014 Mini Mural Competition, and the Sean Christopher Gallery will premiere “Noiseless Growth,” a solo exhibition, installation and performance-art piece by the painter and printmaker.

The art in “Noiseless Growth” considers the range of expressions of what it means to be a woman with cancer. The recent installations depict, she wrote in an email, “a collection of drawings that visualize the mutations of cancer cells and the often noiseless growth of cancer.”

Guests of the exhibition’s opening reception will be treated to a personal live performance piece by DiFranco based on her experiences. The performance includes her interpretations on the various stages of cancer, from its slow, silent growth to the healing process.

Sean Christopher Gallery

April 4-25

Opening reception: 6-10 p.m. Saturday, April 4

815 N. High St. (Suites H & N), Short North

seanchristophergalleryohio.com

Helen Neumann's “Germination”

Studios on High Gallery will welcome spring with an exhibition by watercolor painter Helen Neumann, who will be on hand Saturday, April 4 to explain her creative process to Gallery Hop visitors.

Neumann came to Columbus by way of Hawaii, where she was born and raised. Her upbringing by the beach and her education at the Honolulu Academy of the Arts inspire the subjects she paints. She favors bright, colorful nature scenes, and, as her bio states, her goal as an artist is to paint the lighter side of life.

Studios on High Gallery

Through April 30

686 N. High St., Short North

studiosonhigh.com

“From The Studio” by Sidney Chafetz

Sid Chafetz died on Jan. 12, 2013, in Columbus, at age 90. The Sherrie Gallerie pays tribute to the renowned and beloved professor of art at The Ohio State University with “From the Studio,” an exhibition of rare, one-of-a-kind works by the printmaker.

The Jewish-American World War II veteran, best known for portraits of political and historical figures, used humor and satire to breathe life into complex and controversial subjects, such as Nazi war criminals. He came to Ohio State in 1948 and helped establish and grow the art department’s printmaking program over his four decade-long teaching career.

Sherrie Gallerie

Through April 30

694 N. High St., Short North

sherriegallerie.com

Jennifer Hansen Gard | Kristin Richards

ROY G BIV has made its name showcasing contemporary art by emerging artists from around the world. Throughout the month of April, the gallery will feature the work of two up-and-comers: Kristin Richards of Lexington, and Jennifer Hansen Gard, an MFA candidate in ceramics at Ohio State.

Gard’s research interest is in ethnobotany and the use of ceramic vessels as a form of social art practice. Richards received her MFA in painting and printmaking from the Yale School of Art, and creates installations using commonplace domestic objects.

An artists’ talk featuring both Gard and Richards will take place at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, April 25.